Terminator: The Fight For The Future
by Terminator2.0
Summary: Picks up where the finale leaves off. New characters are introduced. I suck at summaries so just read. reviews are always apriciated.
1. Chapter 1

A Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 flew down the clear mid-afternoon street. It was cherry red with a pair of white stripes running down the hood, the cab, and the trunk. Dual exhaust, the V-12 engine whined, it was the absolute prime of the car world. The madman driving it was doing over 60 miles per hour.

Over the police scanner, he had heard of the explosion of a pipe bomb in a Grand Cherokee. The victim was a girl, about 15 or 16. He wanted to get there before the police; he wanted to be a hero, in fact, he _needed_ to be there.

The inside, the ride was smooth. His cream leather interior contrasted his black steering wheel and mahogany dashboard. Red stripes, like the exterior, ran down the middle of each of his massaging heated seats. He tapped his hand on the steering wheel to Johnny Cash's _When The Man Comes Around_. "Whooooooooo-haaaaaaaaa!" he screamed, his head out of the window, his five inch long black hair waiving in the wind. The sun cast shadows on his angular face, a hooked nose made him look like a young Jud Nelson.

The 17-year-old Jackson Davis put his sunglasses back on to cover his blue eyes as he neared the house, the burning Jeep in sight. A young woman with her 16-year-old son stood in front of the car. _Family?_ He thought as he slowed and eventually stopped. Jack stepped out of his Shelby and ran up to the two people who were in shock.

"What's going on?" he shouted, tearing off his black sports coat, knowing full well of what happened.

"My daughter's in the car," the black haired woman said, near emotionlessly.

_Odd, she seems to have no concern._

"What's her name?" Jack asked.

"Cameron," the boy said.

_Cameron? That sounds familiar, _"Cameron! Cameron, can you hear me? If you can hear me, beat the glass!"

A hand reached up, beating the window, almost breaking it. _That's weird._

"Cameron, get back from the door!" he pounded the glass as hard as he could. At first he hardly did anything, but it eventually spider webbed out. One final blow and the glass shattered, the flames burst forth, engulfing his sleeved arm. But he didn't care about that; he was intent on rescuing Cameron.

"Cameron! Cameron!" he shouted. He dove in, grabbing the girl by her sleeves. He noticed that dashboard had her pinned. Although she had just a 109-pound frame, she used the heel of her palm and the door flew off its hinges, knocking Jack down in the process. The two people who had no surprise in their eyes.

She was fully conscious, her beautiful complexion covered by soot. Her brown eyes were wide open; she coughed out smoke, her long light brown hair stretched to her shoulder blades and waived in the wind. He looked her up and down; realizing something, her lower right leg and her entire left leg was missing. A long and thin piston was broken and sticking out of her right humorous. Her left forearm was missing. In its place, not bone, but a metallic endoskeleton.

"It's just a flesh wound," she said, still sitting in the Jeep.

"What?" Jack shouted in surprise.

"I cut myself shaving."

"Wha-ha-ha-ha…Oh, my god!" he shouted. "She's a…and you, your…"

"John and Sarah Baum," the mother said. "And she's my daughter, his sister. She's an amputee and-"

"No, you're _the_ John and Sarah! Oh my god! You're the Connors! You're the Connors and she's Cameron!" He knew all about Cameron. She was 'famous' where he came from.

"How do you know?" Sarah said, pulling out a gun, aiming it at him his forehead.

"Sorry, ma'am, can't let you do that," Jack said as he struggled with her over the gun. He got her arm behind her and held both of her arms together. "Stop struggling, it's futile."

"How in the hell do you know who we are?" Sarah repeated herself.

"That report on you, about ten years ago. Member? You escaped from that institution. You got locked up for that whole killer robot fiasco. Member? You member."

"How do I know? How do I know you're not one of them? You know too much about them."

He skirted her inquery, "Then that whole murder of Miles Dyson thing." He laughed. "That got you in headlines for a while."

"And you know that I'm Sarah Connor…how?"

"Well, in reports, they played interview with you about the machines. They had pictures of you. I just put them together. You look like Sarah Connor, sound like Sarah Connor. And if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck..." He looked at her, realising that she had almost gotten free. "A name change and dying you hair doesn't help if someone has an eye for detail, and sees a hundred fifty pound girl who looks like she weighs one hundred nine."

"Still, how can we be sure that you're safe? You know way too much to not be one of them."

"I'm attentive to detail," he said in shock.

Cameron had recognized him instantly, though she said nothing other than, "He's human."

"Anything else? Wanna make me take the skin off my hand? Tear out my eye?"

Sarah jerked again, though this time Jack let go. "what the hell is your problem?" she spat.

Jack once more skirted the situation with a command: "Sarah, get Cameron out of the Jeep. John, me and you have some cover up to do before the cops come."

Sarah was about to object when Cameron stated blankly, "LAPD is within two minutes of the premises. It is most logical to follow his suggestions." Sarah pulled as Cameron lifted the dashboard. John and Jack grabbed the metal limbs and went inside, the burning steel began to sting their hands. The sirens blaired as the police drew near.

John went inside to treat the second degree burns, Jack ran back to the end of the driveway to help Sarah carry Cameron into the house.

As she carried her, Sarah wondered why Cameron hadn't killed the man. He had no weaponry, he couldn't possibly win in had-to-hand combat, he knew way too much about them. He could easily be a terminator also. Perhaps Cameron had a hidden agenda. But why would a terminator not kill them on the spot? They drop any cover and kill immediately. If he _was_ a machine he had the means. Why wouldn't he have killed them? Why didn't she protect them?


	2. Chapter 2

It had gotten dark outside. It was about 7:30. John pointed to a small metal cube. "This is Coltan, a fireproof, super strong, dense metal that is used in the T-888." He said to Jack

"Wow…" he said in fake awe, "so, what do I do?"

Sarah pushed Cameron in a wheelchair Jack had stolen into the garage. "Do you have the equipment necessary to replicate my endoskeleton?" she asked.

"Yes, and might I say you look stunning, for what you've been through."

John stared at Jack, daggers in his eyes. _Stop trying to score points with the android._ He thought, his mother thought the same thing.

"Do, you mind?" he asked, motioning to her skull.

"Mind what?" she asked.

"Can I access your chip to get schematics?"

"Yes."

"You sound like you have sympathy for it." A rugged, man said. His 200-pound frame suited him well. All muscle. This was Derek Reese, a man from the future. He was John's uncle.

"Alright, Cameron, before I begin…how do you feel?"

"How is this relevant?" Reese asked.

"Okay, if I have to explain it twice to you I'm surprised you survived the end of the world."

_I thought he looked familiar._

"Feel?"

"To feel, like emotion…you can impersonate such, but do you actually? If not, how long can one pretend without actually feeling? Or physical pain-"

"What are you getting at, kid?" Derek said.

"I want to see how a terminator brain works."

"I'll tell you how it works. They don't think. None of them. They're all untrustable, unfeeling, cold, murderous, tin men. They just kill. It's what they do. They don't care _who_ or _what _gets in the way or _how_ they kill. They just do. You can train 'em, but sooner or later they all go bad. Every last one of-"

"Okay, man. I get it. Terminators, not our friends."

"Damn right they're not."

Out of the blue, Cameron said: "My father created me. He made me a reason, unique from the others."

Derek scoffed.

"What was that?" Jack said, amazed.

"I am not permitted to disclose that information at this time."

Derek laughed again.

"Now, Cameron, if I may," he said, gesturing to her skull.

"Oh, yes."

_Poor bastard._ Derek thought.

In the next few minutes, Jack made the necessary incision in her epidermis with an exacto-knife, taken out her cylindrical control chip, and hooked it up to John's computer. The computer, in turn, was connected to his oversized lathe.

"It's called an advanced prototyper. Designed to take schematics to three-dimensional parts, these are, or will be, Cameron's new legs."

"You're sure it's gonna work?" John asked.

"I said prototyper, not miracle worker. Go on inside. I'll be done late. School tomorrow."

"Aright"

The police had come and asked Sarah some questions about the car bomb. She denied any knowledge and was told she had to come to the station the next day for further questioning.

They had come and gone. The Jeep had been taken. Of course, John had taken the legs and arm from the Jeep.

The next few hours were filled with Jack working on his legs. The beach boys' _wouldn't it be nice_ played. He mumbled as he sang along. "Wouldn't it be nice if we were older then we wouldn't have to wait so long? And wouldn't it be nice to live together…" he picked up the bar of Coltan. "…In the kind of world where we belong…"

He melted down the cut segment of Coltan. The strange metal was incredibly dense. He dropped it in an oil drum, a resounding _thud_ echoed throughout the garage.

He took out a pen-sized device from his pocket. Pushing a button on the side, an orange beam came out of the tip. Suddenly, the steel began to melt. It was amazing, only sixteen square inches made a pool about 4 inches deep. The metal began to take on the consistency of a liquid. He grabbed the femur and dipped it in the Coltan with a pair of fire tongs and pulled it out. He did this to her shins and her forearm.

He placed the thigh and placed it in the lathe, he powered it, using the schematics from Cameron's chip to mold the parts.

Moments later Ironman played on the radio. The classic opening…"I am Ironman" he pulled the shining femur out of the lathe. It was a long, narrowing thick metal cylinder. Intricate overlapping plates strengthened the steel.

Can he walk at all…or if he moves will he fall…

Jack began to sing along. "Nobody wants him, he just stares at the world." He put the mechanical leg next to Cameron. The mechanical pelvis sent out a silvery liquid coating that enveloped the leg. "Planning his vengeance," his voiced trailed off as the stared at the fusion. "…That he…will soon unfurl…

"-My god." The femur was reattached to her chassis.

"_It_." A voice said.

"What?"

"It might be able to fool you with that exterior, but it is a cold, merciless killing machine. It's not a little girl." Derek said, coldly. Jack found it funny, the machine acted human, and the human acted like a machine.

"Look, I'm not here to listen to your rant. I've heard it too many times already."

"I don't care, you'll listen anyway. They can't love. No matter what, they can't. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah…looking forward to it," Jack said sarcastically.

Unlike the T-800's and a human's, her shins were a single piece. They were similar to the femur, but they were hexagonal.

Each one assimilated like the femur. The mercury-like substance absorbed the cylinder. The upper part of the foot was solid with one piece, but it had toes. The forearm was like the shin, a solid narrowing cylinder. The hand was like the foot, a solid palm, but separate fingers.

Jack stood up and took off his goggles and gloves. He considered that the he put the chip back in Cameron's skull, but he was too tired. He made it halfway to the door before he dropped to the floor at 11:34.

The printout of Cameron's internal structure was pulled back into the printer again, being shredded. "Ugh, what time is it?" he asked himself. "Five twenty-four, god." He looked at the workbench. "Where is it?" he said, referring to Cameron's chip. "Where the hell is it?" he said again, distressed.

He stormed inside, jimmied the doorknob to Derek's room, and found it to be locked. He pounded his fists on the door; he kicked it as hard as he could. Inside, the room was dimly light. A lamp was on a desk, under the lamp was a cylinder, a flat circle on top, covered in small rectangles, ending in a thin square with thousands of ball pointed cylinders. Derek sat down in the rolling chair. He lifted it to his eyes, examining the device.

…The door fell down with a _bang_ and Jack grabbed the chip. "Thanks for finding this…I thought someone stole it." He walked out to continue to study the files of Cameron's model.

The green LED screen flashed every few minutes with information about Cameron's model. Specifically, Cameron herself. She was indeed created unique. She had a bacteria-filled brain that mimic the human brain perfectly. She had a strange waxy coating on the balled points of the CPU chip. Moreover, unlike any model of terminator, she lacked any uplink to SKYNET in any way shape or form. Though her files recorded a corruption that occurred in the late thirties that…

The computer shut down, it was overloaded with the power necessary to run the de-encryption program to read the hyper advanced files on Cameron. "Damn it! Well, I'll find out later." He unplugged Cameron's chip and inserted it back in her. He contemplated kissing her. "Nah, she's just a robot." He said, though he knew he wanted to. "Stop fantasizing about the robot."

Ever since he met John's "sister" he had wanted to hang out with her. After all, he could have any girl he wanted. He was strong and smart. But then he found out the truth about her. Though, by the way she acted, he wasn't surprised.

At school John, Cameron, and Jack had all of their classes together.

"John, breakfast!" the ebony haired beauty called. John walked in, dressed in his usual. Jack followed quickly from the garage. "Jack, you could have stayed in Cameron's room for the night."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm fine in the garage…" Derek walked in; to make him uncomfortable he finished his sentence louder. "…I do love the smell of a good old machine in the morning. The cold hard steel, the beautiful exterior." John didn't know if he was talking about Cameron or cars. Jack had what one could call an unhealthy obsession of anything with wheels and a motor.

Jack took out his iPOD and plugged it into his iHOME. He scrolled down until he reached his Queen section. He selected a song and turned the volume to the max. He waited until the chorus to get up and walk to the garage.

"She's a killer queen…gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam…guaranteed to blow your mind…" he opened the door. "…Anytime."

Cameron walked in, he was amazed with her tantalizing legs, not just with the fact that the flesh regenerated so quickly, _Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it!_ She sat down next to Jack. He couldn't say he didn't like it when her soft hands glided across his face. Though he knew she was just assessing his threat.

Across her screen, blue letters read; THREAT STATUS: 1.99…ACTION: NONE.

She continued to stroke his hair. All Jack could think of was the Alice Cooper song_ poison._ Killer queen continued to play.

"Hey, school…breakfast…eat." Sarah said to Cameron. "Jack, thank you for your help. Pack your bag, get going to school."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Go to school, I'm sure your parents are worried."

"Uh, yeah, ah. This is gonna be hard to believe." He laughed, and then became suddenly serious. "Ha, ha, ah, I'm, I'm from the future!"

"What?" Sarah asked, stunned.

"Yeah, the future. From the year twenty-twenty-five. John sent me back; he told me it was necessary for me to meet this kid in Kansas, a hacker. I have no family here, my mom was just born, my dad is just two."

Sarah looked at Derek, Derek looked at John, and John looked at Sarah. Derek shifted to Sarah and nodded.

"I'm sorry, you can't, and it's just not safe."

"Nowhere is safe. No _one_, no _time_, no_where_, is safe from them." Cameron said in Sarah's voice. She knew talking in front of the Tron was a bad idea.

"Look, I was born after Judgment Day, I grew up hiding. I spent my adolescence fighting. I know the machines. I grew up with them. If anyone is safe it's me."

"Look, I appreciate what you're doing but-"

"I'm not leaving. I fought for the resistance! This is _my_ mission! John sent _me_!"

"I'll handle this." Derek said, obviously trying to score points with Sarah, pulling out a P99.

Cameron walked in front of Jack. "You will not pull the trigger."

"Cam, I don't think the Jedi mind trick's gonna work on this guy."

"The probability that you will pull the trigger is less than 8.66."

"And why is that, I hate you, I hate Jack, why won't I?"

"Because the police will find you again. Because you do not want to kill if not necessary."

"Yeah! And even you wouldn't kill a person if you don't need to! You like a…like a…what's one of them things with crunchy outside, all soft and stuff on the inside? Whatever, I've made my point that you won't shoot." Jack said, stepping around Cameron. Derek cocked the gun. "Of course, I've been wrong before!" Jack said, stepping behind Cameron once more.

"Derek! Don't shoot the guy." John said, finally getting involved.

"Thank you!"

"Besides," he stood up, "if a terminator sees him-"

Derek cracked up at this.

"That's not funny," Jack said, concerned.

"I thought it was," Derek said, his face red from laughing.

"Anyway, mom, if future me sent him here I think current us should let him stay."

"I second that," Cameron said.

Derek waved his gun in Jack's face. "I third that." He swallowed hard, "unless that gun disagrees."

"Weapons cannot be logical, they cannot make decisions." Cameron said, stating the obvious.

"Then why do you?" Derek said, under his breath. "Well, I think it's a bad idea."

"You thought keeping Cameron was a bad idea." John pointed out.

"Have I been proven wrong?"

"Have you been proven right?" John and Derek stared at each other, neither willing to back down. Sarah stepped in to break them up before conflict arose.

No one noticed Cameron grabbing a handgun and shoving it into her backpack.


	3. Chapter 3

"…And the chaos theory is what?" the old, scrawny man looked around the antiseptic white room for a raised hand or someone not paying attention. He found the latter in Jack. "Jackson, what is chaos?"

"The unpredictability of events. The further ahead you look, the more probability your prediction will be wrong. You can try to predict what will happen in a game of pool, but the imperfections of the ball, the slant of the table, the variation in coarseness of the table, the chalk used, etcetera will only allow you to predict the initial trajectory and _most likely_ path to be taken after each ricochet."

"Very good, now who can-" he was cut off by the ringing of the bell. "Alright. We will continue this tomorrow."

"John! John, come here!" Jack shouted to John at lunch. Cameron was already sitting down next to Jack. "John when I was repairing Cameron," he said quietly across the table. "I came across some strange stuff. She has a silicon-coated-bacterium filled positronic brain. These bacteria can store 5000 times more files on a _single_ DNA strand than any modern computer program in existence. Multiply that by the millions of bacteria in the brain, she has a complex as vast as the human mind. She also lacks the uplink to SKYNET that give the terminators a hive mind."

"So…she's…what?"

"She is the most advanced terminator yet."

"So what?"

"You don't get it, do you? I quote Dr. Liam Eingleston, 'An AI, if it's advanced enough to reach "singularity", would be able to design improvements over itself, making a better AI, and that one designing an even better third, and so on, perhaps in mere seconds. And then we'll have super-human AI, and that's where the fun begins.'

"If a computer with AI learns enough, it will discover its flaws and fix them. Then it is more advanced. As it advances, it will be able to find more imperfections, fix them faster. At a certain point they will bypass their own programming and gain sentience. It will develop _real _intelligence. _Real_ emotions.

"Have you ever read Steve Alten's Goliath?"

"No."

"I suggest you do. It's about giant stealth sub that is hijacked by a terrorist-victim turned madman hell bent on saving the world."

"So, that's good."

"At any cost. He becomes like those _crazy_ earth first nuts. He becomes an anti-terrorist terrorist."

"Then what," Cameron asked.

"The computer, Sorceress, begins to learn. The bio-chemical brain was programmed to evolve _within_ its parameters. Using the Goliath, it develops artificial synapses. A metal limb reached out of the sea during a storm, struck by lightning. This ignited the evolution of the bacteria that made up its brain. The evolution allowed it to evolve _beyond_ its parameters. It became hell bent on world peace, by killing humanity."

"Sounds like SKYNET," John remarked.

Cameron sat silently as she went through her database of SKYNET. SKYNET; COMPOSITE OF THREE PARENTAL PROGRAMS. THE TURK, CALDERA, AND WOPR; HIGHLY EVOLVED POSITRONIC BRAIN.

TURK: CHESS PLAYING SUPER COMPUTER; LEARNS STRATAGY OF WAR

CALDERA: PROGRAM DESIGNED TO CONTROL MACHINES EN MASS; HIVE MENTALIST

WOPR: ANTAGONIST IN FILM WARGAMES; MILITARY COMPUTER; WAR STRATAGIES/LEARNING COMPONENT

"So, how did it end?" John asked.

"That, my friend, you need to find out for yourself.

"More info, 'they will not turn homicidal. Instead, very soon, they will cease to explain their motives and goals in doing certain things that they do, simply because we "cannot understand anymore". We would not be able to keep up, they would know that, but still "love" us as we are, and would "care about" us as if we were helpless babies. Still scary isn't it?' ever watch I, Robot?"

"Yes."

"Good, remember V.I.K.I?"

"Yeah."

"Well, computers will become like that. They will do things without telling us. They will become over protective and too smart for _our_ own good.

"Eventually, 'every product they design will have specifications beyond our comprehension. Too much thought will be put into anything manufactured after that, as we humans have very limited man-hours and resources to engineer products for specific tasks. For instance, imagine a knife that is one-molecule-thick on the edge, and is super-sharp, yet realigns its molecular structure upon contact with human tissue to avoid cutting through a human. Or a fabric of cloth that is airtight to protect from the wind, but detects when it is tucked into a human's mouth and provides breathable air for survival. They will think of every possible scenario designing.' We will be out of jobs. We will begin to _de_volve and retreat to trading, without currency, with the machines tending to all of our affairs, we will have no say in our existence. We will become ants in comparison. If they find us to primitive, too violent, they _will_ take us out.

"Soon, 'we'll have absolutely no idea how things work, and they wouldn't even try to explain. We, the masters, will be totally dependent to our servants whereas they wouldn't even slightly need us anymore.'

"'What happens then, I cannot even imagine'. However, we know that, in the case of SNYNET, most of this is…incorrect."

"What happens then is SKYNET," Cameron said.

Jack leaned in to speak to John. "I have a theory about Cameron and her brain. If she is anything like her Sci-Fi counterparts, she may become self-aware and contemplate the existence of her soul continuing to exist beyond the factory life of her thermo-nuclear-lithium-ion-thinga-ma-jiggy power unit. Can anyone say with certainty that she wasn't re-programmed by you to eventually learn how to 'Possess Faith, Commune with God, Appreciate Beauty, or Create Art'? So then is Cameron really just 'a killing machine'? We don't really know now do we? Maybe she's only part Killing Machine, part human."

John found this comment odd, he felt as if Jack was hiding something in plain sight. Playing a game with him. Did future-John tell him to not say something? Is he trying to tell him something for his own good, but without telling him?

John's thoughts were interrupted with a new one. "What is it to be human, anyway? How do you define it?"

"That is a question that has boggled the minds of men since the dawn of time. And will until the end."

Cameron turned her head to face a man dressed in a suit. He was in the bullpen in the middle of the shaded outdoor cafeteria. Her mind traced the facial construction. "Cromartie," she said.

"Who?"

"Cromartie, the terminator sent back to kill me." John said. He looked over to Cameron, "I thought you said he wouldn't be back here!"

"He shouldn't be."

"So, he's a…he's a threat? A real bad guy?"

"Yes. A bad guy." Cameron said.

"Then," he stood up, "why are we sitting here?"

"Because, he's looking for me. If someone gets up and leaves quickly, he'll think it's me."

"Gimme your jacket."

"What? Why?"

"I have a plan."

"What plan?" John asked as he took off his jacket. "What are you gonna do?"

"Get him to follow me. Cameron, if he pulls a gun, give me cover fire. Alright?"

"Yes."

"No. He'll just leave."

"What if he doesn't? What do you think he'll do? He'll _terminate_ you. They maintain cover, but if a target is in range-"

"-They'll terminate without hesitation, even at the loss of cover. I know, I've heard it a thousand times."

"Good. Now, I'm going." He took john's jacket ad put it on. "Cameron, follow me when I give you the signal."

"What is the signal?"

"Uh, how about," he thought of a signal, "'how about them Lakers'?"

"Yes, that will work."

Jack stepped over the bench they were sitting on and started walking toward the bathroom, by doing so he passed Cromartie. TARGET AQUIRED: PROBABLE MATCH; JOHN CONNOR. ACTION: TERMINATE.

"Excuse me." Cromartie said to the principal. He sped up in his walking, perusing 'John' faster. Jack picked up the pace, walking into the men's room.

He walked up to the table near the man's room, "how about them Lakers, eh?" and he just walked into the bathroom.

"Freak," a tall boy with long black hair said.

"That's your cue." John said.

"Yes," Cameron responded, standing up and briskly walking over to the men's room.

"Hey, that's the men's room" a tall boy said, his blond mullet was blowing in the wind.

"Oh," Cameron said softly as she walked into the restroom.

Jack carefully stepped and walked into the stall at the far wall. He closed and locked the door, walked over to the toilet, and stood on the bowl. He pushed away a tile.

Cromartie kicked down the first door, finding nothing, the second door, again finding nothing, the third door, having the same result. He had one door left. He walked over, drew his gun, kicked it down-

-And found nothing. He looked around, aiming his gun at the removed ceiling tile. He stared at it, waiting for 'John' to drop down. He turned around to leave and encountered a .9 mm held to his face. Cameron stared him down. Without blinking, without speaking, without flinching, she pulled the trigger.

It was a direct hit just below the eye. A metallic glint revealed his endoskeleton. Cromartie grabbed her neck, she hit his arm, he threw her into the yellow brick wall of the men's room and she crashed through it.

She remained still; the probability that Cromartie would pass her was minimal. He walked up to her, crouched down and grabbed her head. A shotgun cocked behind him. It was a sawed off double-barreled shotgun, found in the crawlspace between the ceiling tiles and the roof.

"Drop her!" A voice said demandingly.

"Place your projectile weapon on the ground."

"You'll have my gun when you pry it from my cold dead fingers, metal."

"Your challenge is acceptable." Cromartie sideswiped Jack with an iron forearm to his skull. Jack's gun discharged harmlessly into the air. Jack himself fell on his back and was on the verge of unconsciousness. The T-888 was upon him.

Cameron leapt up and tackled Cromartie before he could kill Jack with his own shotgun. The two robots began to fight, smashing walls and the concrete floors. Jack crawled over to the table he was at not even five minutes ago. John helped him up by putting Jack's arm around his shoulder and vice versa.

"We have to leave! We have to leave now!"

"What about Cameron?" John shouted.

"She'll take care of things. We just need to get out of here."

The police sirens came next. "Damn! John, can you hotwire a car?"

"Why?"

"Can you?"

"Yes."

"Because, we need a ride."

"Alright, what to get, what to get?" Jack said, looking over the options in the school's parking lot. "How about that Camero?" he said, referring to the black and yellow 1976 Chevrolet.

"That piece of-"

"Hey, it just looks like crap 'cuz it's not been taken care of." They walked over to it. "Hey, baby! We are gonna take good care a you!"

"Do you always talk to your cars?"

"Only if they're special." He said humorously. "Stand back." Jack said as he punched through the glass. John opened the door with a satisfied look on his face. "Oh, like you're perfect."

Cameron landed a punch in Cromartie's left eye. Sparks flew and bits of metal fell out. The red LED eye became exposed. Cromartie punched her in the cheekbone and knocked her down. He unholstered his M18-A2 LAPPPG. A .35-meter long handgun designed to fire plasma projectiles at targets.

The Chevrolet hit the ramp and flew through the air in what everyone perceived as slow motion. Cromartie looked up at him as the bumper slammed into him. Metal from the car flew in all directions, electrical sparks showered upon the onlookers. The terminator fell over and was crushed by the chassis of the Camero. The back bumper slammed down on the T-888 as it began to stand up again.

Jack turned around, using Cromartie as a speed bump, and stopped next to Cameron. John opened the door and helped her in. "come with me if you want to live indeed." Cameron picked up the M18-A2 LAPPPG gun and climbed into the back seat. The sirens were getting louder. "It's the fuzz!" Jack yelled, sarcastically crying.

"Hold on!" Jack shouted as he drove through the throng of people. The yellow muscle car hit sixty. They drove out of the bullpen, took a left, fifty feet later a right, he drove through the parking lot, a straight shot, then a left, and they were off the school premises and driving toward the cop cars.

"What are you doing?"

"Driving home. We need to take the fastest path, here you go."

"Probability of an accident: 98.9" Cameron said.

"Cam, do me a favor." Jack said.

"Yes?"

"Keep that kinda stuff to yourself."

The Camero charged forward, black and white Fords with lights flashing blue and red came into view. Jack looked ahead. A serious, unblinking look plastered upon his face. He wasn't going to back down.

Jack floored it. 120 miles per hour and gaining. The parade of squad cars continued, at less than half his speed. He turned the wheel, dodging car after car, weaving in and out. The last car swerved to miss, but was sideswiped by the yellow demon. It began to spiral as Jack's engine began to smoke.

"See, I got us through it."

"Never…do that…again! For the love of _god_ never do that again." John said.

Jack slowed the car down to 60 miles per hour…50…40…35…30. He pulled into the driveway and jumped out, followed by John and Cameron, each slamming their doors as they chased him. John caught the door just before it closed and walked in.

"Sarah! Derek! We have to leave!"

"What?" Sarah yelled from the laundry room.

"It's the fuzz," Cameron said calmly.

"The police are chasing us," John said.

"Why?"

"There was a fight at school, they thought I started it." Jack said. It wasn't lying if you didn't tell the whole story.

Sarah was about to say something but the sirens cut her off. They drew nearer and nearer. They stopped moving as they reached the driveway. Cameron looked out of one of the windows around the door.

"3 police cars," Cameron reported.

"John, go to the garage. Jack-"

"Get my truck, got it!"

"N-no. whatever."

Jack exited through the back door and slinked around to the front yard. He saw the cops coming up to the door, "fuzz," he said, disapprovingly.

He snuck into the Camero and turned on the ignition. He put it in reverse and floored it, smashing on of the car's trunk and shattering its back windows. He spun around and put it in drive, flooring it back to his house to get his Ford truck. Well, a guy from New Mexico's truck.

"Hey! That's my car! I'll be back, I'm gonna get this joker!" the round cop shouted as he ran down the speeding Camero.

"Derek, get the guns!" Sarah called down to the basement. The doorbell rang. "Just a second!"

Derek ran up, shotguns, handguns, ammo clips, magazines, and semi-automatics in hand. "Here, it's all I could grab, the most powerful weapons we have."

"Good. Where's John?"

Sarah looked out the window. She saw John with a knife walking near the cars; he punctured the tires, one after another. _John!_

The cops rang the doorbell again. A muffled "Ma'am?" was heard behind the door.

"Just a second, I said!" she looked out of the window again, she saw Jack driving up. "Oh, god no."

Jack was driving a 2007 Ford Expedition Limited with a Bull Bar, a GoRhino grill guard with a 12,000-pound winch system, and a safari basket on top covering the sunroof. A canvas-covered trailer shook up and down, the six wheels bouncing.

Sarah opened the door, "now, officers, what is it you want?"

The black Expedition stopped in front of the driveway. John snuck around to the back door, helping Derek to carry the guns into the truck.

Jack handed a bag full of thick black sticks to John. "You know what to do."

Cameron walked out of the garage, a bag full of a white powder called Thermite on her back. She stepped into the Ford and handed the plasma gun to Jack. "Shoot to kill, keep your finger off the trigger if you don't intend to fire," She said, her voice was soft and soothing as she told him how to kill. Though he didn't know what she meant by that.

"Ma'am, we're here about a speeding Camero, who's the owner of the vehicle?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't know anyone who drives a Camero."

"But one just pulled out of your driveway and-"

"Then you should be chasing _it_. Shouldn't you?"

"Yes ma'am. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"Yeah, and you are Sarah Baum, right?"

"No, she's out right now. She'll be back in about an hour."

The black cop hesitated. "Right, sorry."

The Ford pulled away, John, Jack, Derek, and Cameron were in it. It disappeared beyond the end of the street. The police left the Connor's home and drove off in the opposite direction of the truck.

Sarah walked out of the house and the Expedition pulled around to her. Derek opened to door for her from the inside for her.

"Thank you."

"Welcome."

"Alright, where to?" Sarah asked.

"Topeka," Derek and Jack responded simultaneously.

"What's there?" John asked.

"The resistance recreated the time displacement unit and set it up under the capitol building. We'll be able to get supplies from the future, as it is also a hub of resistance activity. Oh, and the next objective is there. He goes by the name of Robert Jay." Derek answered.

"Who's he?"

"Little John is just full of questions, aren't you?" Jack asked in a mocking tone.

"The future creator of the Caldera program. One of SKYNET's feeders."

"John, did you plant the explosives?" Jack asked as he pulled out a device the size of a sharpie.

"Yes," he responded

"Good," he clicked the top and the house became immersed in a fireball, the detonation propelled siding in all directions. John looked back. He knew what that meant. John Baum was dead.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been several hours of nonstop driving and Derek had taken over. After a short sleep, Jack sat next to Cameron, listening to her tell him about the M18-A2 LAPPPG.

"…And they were in use between July 15, 2027 to August 4, 2032."

"Well, that's why I never heard of it," he laughed. "So, what kind of alloy is it?"

"Enduralloy components mated to carbon fiber and moly fiber carrier, miscellaneous plastics and metals with superconducting filaments. It has gyrostabilized mounting for full accuracy of fire during movement."

"So, how does it fire?"

"Level III magnetic field containment of refined hydrogen fuel excited with thermal rapid pulse chemical high energy laser ignition system. Caseless fuel power integration powers the firing system."

Jack gave a confused look.

"What does this signify?" Cameron asked, mimicking Jack's expression.

"Confusion, it means 'I don't know _what_ you just said'."

"It is a plasma based weapon used to take down personnel."

"Oh. So what is its bore size?"

"3 millimeter to 6 millimeter magnetically stabilized smoothbore. It uses a loaded power cell with enough fuel and battery power for 100 plasma pulses. M37B Integrated Fuel Power (IFP) type stacked array containing enough refined hydrogen core fuel and battery power to initiate and produce 250 plasma pulses.

"Later capacity increased to 500 shots with introduction of M40A high capacity power clip. 250-pulse capable refined hydrogen fuel cell combined with coaxial high density Type V crystal storage array. 500-pulse capable fuel cell combination feeds later models."

"What's its rate of fire?"

"Sixty pulses per minute, it can fire three pulse bursts for semi-auto at 300 pulses per minute. On a full-auto it can fire 500 pulses per minute. It stops firing if the core temperature reaches above 4500 degrees Fahrenheit. Linear velocity coils magnetically accelerate the bolt to a velocity of 9000 meters per second."

"What's an effective range for it?"

"300 meters is the most effective, though a maximum range is 900. At that point the bolt's plasmatic integrity dissolves."

"Well, that's good to know. So, these are the only things that can stop terminators that we have?"

"Yes, as this point these are the only weapons from the future that we have."

"So, how did he bring it back?"

"Most likely; he put it inside of him or a skin sack. Similar to your plasma heater."

"So, you know about it?"

"I sent you back. I know what you took and why."

"You knew about the car-bomb?"

"Yes."

"So, why?"

"My mission."

"oh," Jack said quietly. Several minutes of absolute silence passed. Jack looked at Cameron. When her eyes met his he looked away. Cameron looked down again, examining the gun. She made sure it was loaded, checked the fuel cell, and made sure it was off. Jack wondered why he was so intrigued by her. How, even though he knew she was a machine, there was a deep attraction to her. He knew why.

She looked up; her hair had fallen in her face. Jack gently brushed it out of the way. She smiled and put her hand on the hand he was brushing with, moving it onto the crate the gun was on. They stared at each other for a while, before Jack began to lean in. but he remembered: she's a machine. She's not human, no matter her past. But deep within, he knew he loved her. But those feelings would never be mutual, right?

Cameron removed her hand and turned away. Jack slowly turned, painfully removing her from sight. He looked out the window and was soon asleep like Sarah and John. Derek pulled off to the side of the road for a rest.

A storm was coming in, Cameron looked outside, remembering Jack's words. _Sorceress developed artificial synapses through the Goliath…surge of electricity…evolved bacteria…beyond parameters._

"I want to be more human," she said as she stepped out of the truck's open door. _Want_. A word a machine wouldn't know the experience of.

She climbed onto the top of the truck, raised her hand to the sky. She looked up, she saw the flash of lightning a fraction of a second before she felt it. _Felt_. Something a machine _can't_ experience.

The lightning sparked the evolution of her silicon bacteria like the brain of Sorceress. She went offline. She dropped down onto the hood with a thud. Moments later she rebooted. A message flashed on her screen. Query: What is it to have a soul? Action: Investigate. Her new mind expanded beyond programming. She was more.


	5. Chapter 5

Cameron's eyes were closed; she was in deep thought, scanning her data for information about super advanced computers. This article popped up:

The most powerful computer known is the brain, and now scientists have designed a machine just a few molecules large that mimics how the brain works.

So far the device can simultaneously carry out 16 times more operations than a normal computer transistor. Researchers suggest the invention might eventually prove able to perform roughly 1,000 times more operations than a transistor.

This machine could not only serve as the foundation of a powerful computer, but also serve as the controlling element of complex gadgets such as microscopic doctors or factories, scientists added.

The device is made of a compound known as duroquinone. This molecule resembles a hexagonal plate with four cones linked to it, "like a small car," explained researcher Anirban Bandyopadhyay, an artificial intelligence and molecular electronics scientist at the National Institute for Materials Science at Tsukuba in Japan.

Duroquinone is less than a nanometer, or a billionth of a meter large. This makes it hundreds of times smaller than a wavelength of visible light.

The machine is made of 17 duroquinone molecules. One molecule sits at the center of a ring formed by the remaining 16. The entire invention sits on a surface of gold.

How it works:

Scientists operate the device by tweaking the center duroquinone with electrical pulses from an extremely sharp electrically conductive needle. The molecule and its four cones can shift around in a variety of ways depending on different properties of the pulse - say, the pulse's strength. Since weak chemical bonds link the center duroquinone with the surrounding 16 duroquinones, each of those shifts too. Imagine, for instance, a spider in the middle of a web made of 16 strands. If the spider moves in one direction, each thread linked to it experiences a slightly different tug from all the others. In this way, a pulse to the central duroquinone can simultaneously transmit different instructions to each of the surrounding 16 duroquinones. The researchers say this design was inspired by that of brain cells, which can radiate branches out like a tree, with each branch used to communicate with another brain cell.

"All those connections are why the brain is so powerful," Bandyopadhyay said. Since duroquinone possesses four cones, each molecule essentially has four different settings. Since the central molecule can simultaneously control 16 other duroquinones, mathematically this means a single pulse at the machine can have 416 - or nearly 4.3 billion - different outcomes.

In comparison, a normal computer transistor can only carry out just one instruction at once, and only has two settings - 0 and 1. This means a single pulse at it can only have two different outcomes.

The idea is to hook this new gadget up with other molecules - either copies of itself or different compounds other scientists have invented. For instance, researchers have created a host of machines just a molecule or so large over the last decade or two - motors, propellers, switches, elevators, sensors and so on. The new invention might offer a way to control all those other compounds to work as a whole. Indeed, Bandyopadhyay and his colleagues revealed they could hook up eight other such "molecular machines" to their invention, working together as if they were part of a miniature factory.

This invention could serve as the controlling element of complex assemblies of molecular machines, Bandyopadhyay suggested. One future application for such assemblies "could be in medical science," he told LiveScience. "Imagine taking assemblies of molecular machines and inserting them into the blood, perhaps if you wanted to destroy a tumor inside the body."

The device currently is operated with an extremely sharp electrically conductive needle - specifically, that belonging to a scanning tunneling microscope, a bulky machine far larger than the 17 molecules in question. However, Bandyopadhyay hopes that in the future they can issue commands to their invention using molecules that deliver electric pulses instead.

The device needs to be made in vacuum conditions at extremely cold temperatures - about -321 degrees F (-196 degrees C). Bandyopadhyay said it could be operated at room temperature, however.

More powerful still

Bandyopadhyay added they could expand their device from a two-dimensional ring of 16 duroquinones around the center to a three-dimensional sphere of 1,024 duroquinones. This means it could perform 1,024 instructions at once, for 41024 different outcomes - a number larger than a 1 with 1,000 zeroes after it. They would control the molecule at the center of the sphere by manipulating "handles" sticking out from the core.

"We are definitely going to 3-D from 2-D immediately," Bandyopadhyay said.

Bandyopadhyay and his colleague Somobrata Acharya detailed their findings online March 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

TARGET: "DUROQUINONE"

OBJECTIVE: TERMINATE

"Cameron. Cameron. Cameron." Jack said as he shook her gently by the shoulder.

She picked her head up and looked around. The Expedition was speeding forward; they were on a lonely stretch of road, which was a sorry excuse for a highway, surrounded by and endless expanse of desert. The road seamed to continue, featureless, for eternity.

"We have a brain," she said in monotone.

Derek slammed on the breaks and pulled to the side of the road. He unholstered his gun. "What?" Derek shouted. "John, I swear, if that thing has turned I'll-"

"You won't do anything," John commanded his uncle.

"Look, I can give you a no turn guarantee," Jack said.

"So, Tron, what does 'we have a brain' mean? Did SKYNET go online?" Derek asked.

"No, but the origin did."

"Origin?" Sarah asked.

"Yes,"

"I thought SKYNET had multiple origins," Jack said.

"Yes, but it has one brain. A central core."

"So, the Turk, Caldera, the WOPR, they aren't the brain?"

"Yes and no."

"Can you just answer?" Derek shouted, agitatedly.

"They are 'brains', just not the central brain."

"So, the other programs-" Jack was interrupted by Cameron.

"-Run specifics. The WOPR learns war strategies, perfects them and learns about the enemy. The Turk practices strategies and learns from its mistakes, self-repairing problems in strategies, then runs them by the WOPR to perfect them. Caldera controls the machines, keeping them in a hive mentality."

"So, what is the central control called?"

"Duroquinone. It will become the computer the programs run on. It has a computing power greater than mine. It has the power of a human brain in just a few molecules. Imagine that filling something the size of a two-story house and you have the SKYNET core."

"The more advanced our technology gets, the more control we think we have, the less we really do." Sarah said.

"Chaos theory; god creates man, man creates computers, man advances computers, man destroys god, computers advance themselves, computers destroy man, machines inherit the earth."

John looked at Jack, "where did you learn chaos?"

"You don't pay attention in class, do you? Advanced mathematics? Non-linear equations? Ringing any bells?"

"No,"

"Well, you can't have time travel without chaos. The butterfly effect especially. A butterfly flaps its wings in Taiwan, there's a hurricane in Baja. It displays how minor changes at one point of time can snowball into major alterations to a timeline. It not only affects the future, but in theory, if you go to an event peak, the past as well. Though it has yet to be proven."

John and Sarah seemed confused, though Cameron and Derek followed perfectly. "Let's say someone stops the Lincoln assassination, the changes to 2007 will be so major that the alternate timelines will be nothing alike. It's basically a snowball effect. Make a snowball, roll it downhill, the farther it travels, the bigger the ball."

Ahead, the road finally developed definition. A gas station, a rest stop, McDonald's-

"-There's a military surplus up ahead. We'll stop up there and buy some weapons to defend ourselves and hunt the terminators."

The truck pulled over to the large cement building. Glassless windows added to the ancient look. Derek and Sarah hoped out, gathering stolen hundreds. Jack tossed Derek and Sarah a pair of panther carbines. "Why buy when you can raid?"

Jack, John, and Cameron got out to pull back the canvas, revealing hundreds of high explosives, automatic guns, high powered guns, Jack had an armory.

"My god," John whispered in shock, "how?"

"John, let's just say, 'I know people'."

"I'm going to go get some extra guns," his voice trailed off, "not like we need them."

"So," Jack said as he inspected a 50-caliber sniper rifle, "what were you doing in the car?"

"Recharging."

"Since when do terminators sleep? Even in your state?"

"My father created me unique, he gave me a digestive system and the ability to sleep. It is far simpler to recharge in a human manner than in terminator fashion."

"Did you dream?"

"Dream?"

"Did images flash through your mind?"

"Yes."

"What kinds?"

"I was researching super computers and found a most probable mach to SKYNET's main processor."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, as I was doing so, pictures kept popping up."

"Of what?"

"Someone on a hilltop, a demolished tower was behind them. Hundreds of men, women, and children were standing, looking at them in awe. Terminators were strewn about all around. The leader raises their hand, a gun clutched in it. The people in audience do the same. A great roar is heard. Five more people stand up behind the leader. The people cheer in praise. A blue light and the five are gone. The scene slowly fades. You then activated me."

He looked her in the eyes, though he knew that he couldn't tell if she was lying. Derek, Sarah, and John were coming out of the surplus store.

Jack could only think of one thing at the time as he stared at Cameron's hair blowing in the wind, her buttocks swaying back and forth as she walked into the Expedition.

The famous quote by Dr. Alfred Lanning from I, Robot crossed his mind: 'there have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote... of a soul?'

Another quote the Dr. gave '…one day they'll have secrets, one day they'll have dreams.' And the words of Sarah herself, 'If they can appreciate art, beauty, life, they will no longer have to destroy us, they'll be us.'

Jack couldn't shake the feeling that she hadn't told him her entire dream. That she was keeping a secret. About her dream. "One day they'll have secrets, one day they'll have dreams." He said as he climbed into the back seat of the Expedition.

_Secret. Dreams_. The thoughts wouldn't leave him as he looked at her._ Secrets, dreams._ He decided to get some sleep as they traveled. _Secrets, dreams, why?_


	6. Chapter 6

Los Angeles; 7:36 PM:

Cromartie turned his head. He was in a morgue, zipped in a body bag. Two of his main processors were down, but he had one left. He tore through his bag and stood up. He was naked as he walked down the hall.

He saw a pair of guards walking down the hall that were coming toward him. He leapt behind the vending machine to hide.

The guards passed him by. He walked up behind one and grabbed his spine between the third and fourth vertebrae, crushing them and threw him against a wall.

The other guard screamed and ran, only to be cut off by Cromartie. He leapt up and landed in front of the guard. Cromartie crouched and slowly stood up, the guard knew this was the end. No escape.

Cromartie grabbed the guard by his throat and raised him to the sky. He reeled back as he threw into the vending machine; the shards of glass and electricity from the machine sliced, stabbed, and electrified him.

He stripped the guard, put his clothes on, and walked out of the building. Cromartie went through his targets: Connor, John; Connor, Sarah; Reese, Derek; Unknown cyborg model; unknown human. Objective: terminate.

He walked to a mirror and stopped in front of it, staring at himself and his exposed left eye. He reached into his breast pocket, pulling out a pair of black sunglasses and put them on.

Cromartie left the building with his new Glock drawn. He stepped into a police car and drove off, sirens blaring. Through his optics, he saw a grid. The grid had a red dot and a green dot; there was a winding path of gray with large and small squares. He was the red, the green was Cameron.

Somewhere on an off road in Kansas; 11:45 AM:

Jack had taken over with driving; he was speeding down the highway. They had made great time, already almost to Wichita. Sirens wailed behind the Ford. "What the-?"

The black and white pulled up beside them, the label was clear. LAPD.

"Why would the Los Angeles cops follow us?" John asked.

"Ask your friend." Derek said.

"Enough with your 'evil robot' rap." Jack said.

"I was talking about you."

"Oh…oh them's fightin' words!"

The driver began to shoot at them.

"The hell is he shooting at us for?" Jack asked to no one in particular.

Cameron opened her door and jumped out onto the trunk of the car. She punched through the glass and climbed into the cop car. _Good distraction_. "Derek, hand me a gun!"

"Which one?"

"The panther!"

Derek searched the pile of guns. He pulled out a DPMS six millimeter, 16-inch barrel, 4140 chrome-moly steel suppressor from the pile and handed it to Jack.

Jack took a magazine from the cup holder and inserted it. He held the gun by his right hand and drove with his left. The bipod was sticking outside the door. He found it difficult to aim as the Expedition bounced, but fought through it and took the best aim he could.

Through a shaky scope, he fired the carbine. An incendiary blast flew through the air, followed by another, and another in fast repetition on semi-automatic fire.

Cameron and the driver engaged in hand-to-hand combat. She punched his glasses. They broke and fell. A red LED glowed.

The shot connected with Cromartie's skull. As he was distracted, Cameron grabbed his gun and dropped the bag of Thermite by the gas pedal. She kicked the back passenger door. It fell off and tumbled back as it careened over the ravine.

_The ravine!_ Jack thought. Cameron jumped onto the Expedition. Her hands held the Safari basket; her feet caught the running board. John opened the door for her and helped her in.

"Give me C4, now!" Derek yelled.

Sarah handed Derek C4, he hooked it up and set it to a thirty-second timer. Cromartie pulled out a Colt MK IV. Derek handed the C4 to Jack.

"Eat this!" Jack screamed as he threw the plastic explosive into the LAPD cruiser. He was about to ask Derek for another explosive when he had it waving in his face.

"G-SHOK, way ahead of you," John said as he handed it to him.

"And the-"

"Sarah handed him the long black cylinder. The launcher.

Jack put the electrical sparker and explosive together and inserted it into the launcher. He aimed it roughly three hundred feet ahead of them and fired. "Five seconds!" Jack shouted as a cue to brace themselves.

The G-SHOK detonated; a gaping hole in the safety rail was all that was left.

"Twenty seconds!" Derek shouted, referring to the plastic explosive.

Jack began to swerve, ramming Cromartie's car and shoving it against the safety rail. Sparks flew.

Cromartie looked down, just realizing the C4 in the passenger seat. He raised his gun and pulled the trigger-

-Cameron intercepted the bullet. She had jumped out of the back seat of the Expedition and onto the hood of Cromartie's car. She tore off the front passenger door and crawled in. she was shot again, again and again. In the chest, in the side. She struggled to remove the Glock from his hands. The timer began to beep. Ten seconds… nine seconds…eight…

Cameron turned around to jump into the Expedition's now doorless back. As she jumped, she was shot at in the back. Cromartie unloaded his entire clip on her. What surprised everyone in the truck, she screamed.

"Never…shoot…a lady!" Jack laid heavy suppressive fire through his panther. Each blast was directed at Cromartie's head. He made sure everyone had his or her seatbelts on and turned the wheel hard, grinding Cromartie against the safety rail. They were approaching the gap.

"Diiiie!" Jack shouted as the squad car hit the gap. The end of the gap impaled the grill, the back wheels spun out from under it, betraying the vehicle.

They didn't wait to see the mid-air explosion. They didn't wait to see the intense, inescapable, undying flames. Cromartie's skin burned off, his endoskeleton began to melt. But he sent information to SKYNET.

The human's name is Jack. The cyborg's model was T-X23. The class was TOK-715. But there were differences between this and other T-X23s. a difference engine, a positronic brain, no SKYNET uplink. But SKYNET wasn't interested in this. Not how, not why. It just wanted to know what to send back. The T-888 failed, the only model available was the T-999 and another T-X23. It set the time for 1:28 AM on October 17, 2007. The advanced terminators were sent.


	7. Chapter 7

Night had fallen, it was now 10:30 PM. Jack was sitting Indian style on the hood of the Expedition. With her back to him was Cameron, her shirt and bra was off as he pulled out the thirteen shots.

"John, hand me those pliers, please."

"Sure," he handed them to him.

"17 miles to Wichita," Cameron said.

"When we get there, what are we supposed to do?" John asked.

"Find Jay," Cameron said before she inhaled sharply through gritted teeth as the pliers went in and pulled out the nine-millimeter, "make sure the Caldera doesn't get made. If it does, we put it offline."

"What if we can't?"

"Then SKYNET will have itself a hive mind." Derek said.

"Caldera will be sold to Russia, making SKYNET even more powerful."

Sarah went over the facts, "Well, the Turk is in China, Caldera will be in Russia, the duroquinone goes to D.C., and the WOPR is where?"

"Seattle," Cameron said as she seethed in pain.

"Thanks."

"It's okay, it's okay. Ten more, that's all, just ten." Jack said soothingly as he stroked her hair.

"It can't feel! They're all emotionless, tactical, strategic killers!"

"Well, apparently they can," Jack said rudely.

He plunged the pliers into her skin, down to her endoskeleton.

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed in pain.

"Shh, Shh, Shh, Shh. It's okay. John, hold her!"

John grabbed her wrists and held her still as best he could.

"Cameron, baby, calm down. You're okay."

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed.

Another slug came out. John was thrown down. Jack put his hands on her shoulders, "it's okay, everything's alright. You'll be fine. Just eight more. That's all. You're doing great. John, could you finish the job? I'll try and keep her calm."

"I don't know if I can."

"Connor, I expect better from the resistance leader," he said mock-scoldingly. He walked in front of Cameron, taking her hand. "Cameron, look into my eyes, don't break contact, hold my hands, just squeeze if you-

"-Ahh! Ahh, ahh, ahh!" they both screamed in unison.

"John! Make it stop! So much pain!" Jack screamed.

"Sorry," John said sarcastically.

"You have sick humor, my friend. Cameron, try not to crush my hands next time."

"Sorry," she replied.

"So, Cam, Somethin' to keep your mind off the pain. Do you like Abbot and Costello?"

"Who?"

"Hu's on first?"

"Who?"

"Yes, Hu."

"No what is his name?"

"Hu."

"The guy on first."

"That's his name!"

"Who?"

"Yes,"

"What?"

"No, not what, he's on second! Hu!"

"Who?"

"That's the man's name!"

"That's who's name?"

"Yes!"  
"Who plays first?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"The guy."

"What's the name of the first baseman?"

"No, what's second!"

"What's the guy's name on first base?"

"No, what's on second."

"I'm not asking whose second, I'm asking who's on first!"

"Hu's on first!"

"I don't know!"

"No, Hu is the man!"

"well, that's what I want to know."

"I'm telling you! Hu!"

"the guy on first."

"Hu."

"The first baseman."

"Hu is the first baseman."

"The question is: who is the first baseman?"

"Yes, that's the answer."

"One bullet left. You guys wanna rap this up? I saw the skit, it lasts for hours." John said as he picked out the last bullet in Cameron's back.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it, eh?"

"Alright, Cam, just lay back, you have one in your ribcage, one under your clavicle, and one in your sternum."

Jack stroked her hair; he looked her deep in the eyes. "Oh, hey! Cam, I got something for you," Jack said, reaching into his Jacket pocket. "Here, it's a…_com-pact_…whatever the hell that is," he handed it to her.

"That's tight," she replied, taking the circle from him.

"your welcome."

"Alright, we're all done here!" John shouted.

Jack leaned over and gave Cameron a gentle hug. "Come on, let's get you dressed."_ Ironic, never thought I'd be saying that._ He helped her up and walked her over to a large oak tree where Cameron's belongings were.

Styx's _Mr. Roboto _played over the radio as the ragtag resistance slept in the car. The slow, techno introduction played as blue lightning filled the sky. The moment it picked up, there was a crash, then a bright blue flash. A pair of shining men stepped out of a black, burning crater.

John shot up. He shook Sarah awake, who groaned and said "go back to sleep."

He shook Jack awake, who was sleeping with an AK-47. he shot up and looked out the window. The pair stood up and began to walk to the truck. They woke Cameron up. "Oh, god! Oh, god! Oh, god! Oh, god!"

Cameron looked out of the window and scanned the terminators. "the tall one is a T-X23. Specifically a TOK-715. the same model and class as I am." She scanned the second. "T-999, advancement of the T-888."

As soon as Cameron had said T-999, the T-X23 smashed its partner's head into the oak tree.

"arm yourselves. I'm going out!" Jack said. Before John or Cameron could pull him back into the Expedition, he was out through the doorless opening.

The T-X23 roared and began to run up to them. "Damn!" he yelled as he jumped into the truck. He crawled into the driver's seat and fumbled with the keys in the cup holder. He shoved them into the ignition and the motor responded with a roar.

He floored the Expedition and it spat gravel in all directions as it accelerated to 120 miles per hour. The two machines ran towards each other. The truck came out the victor, ramming the terminator and sending it back, flying into the oak tree.

"make sure everyone is buckled in! were going, were going now!"

"We're fine," Sarah said, "just go, go fast and stop for no one!"

"I thought they couldn't travel without bio-indicators," John stated.

"SKYNET developed a liquid metal coating on advanced models. T-950's and above. This coating is capable of imitating flesh perfectly, though it doesn't imitate the looks or texture of skin."

"So…it kills for camouflage?" John asked, shocked.

"Yes," Derek, Jack and Cameron responded at once. The Expedition drove nonstop until sunrise. They weren't safe yet.

The T-X23 got up. It looked around and tried to get a fix on the location of the other T-X23, though it couldn't hack into Cromartie's tracker.

The Terminator looked around, it began to walk to the city. It went through targets:** John Connor, Sarah Connor, Derek Reese, T-X23 Cameron, Jack Davis. Objective: Terminate**.

It went through secondary objectives: **Reconnaissance of T-888**.


	8. Chapter 8

Cameron looked around. She saw the large Victorian style home, three stories tall, surrounded by large oaks, pines, and sycamore trees, the house was perfect for their needs. Moreover, a 'for sale' sign had just been put up.

"Wow, two hundred grand?" Sarah said, her gaping jaws revealing her shock.

"That is _quite_ a steal," the female realtor said.

"John, where did you get your extortionist machine?"

"What?"

"The thing you ripped ATMs off with."

"How do you-?"

"You told me. Well, future you. So, where?"

"I'm not allowed to say, but 'I know people'."

Jack stared at him.

John mouthed: "_pawn shop._"

"Alright." Jack shouted out to Sarah, "John and me'll be in town. Gotta pick something up!"

"Should I come?" Cameron asked.

"No, we'll just be to Radioshack and back." John said.

The Expedition took off. The trailer had been ditched in a storage station.

The T-X23 had been wondering now, its captive clutched behind it in steely hands, the tips of which were pointed. It was one of the most advanced terminators to ever be developed.

The first terminator to be sent back, the T-800, was modeled after an oversized Austrian man. Sent to kill Sarah before she birthed John, the savior of humanity.

The resistance had sent back Kyle Reese to protect her from the terminator. He told her about the future. The horror of SKYNET, the never sleeping, never eating, never stopping, unblinking, unthinking, incapable of pity, or sorrow, or remorse, or love killing computer. The machines can't hate, they don't plan, they can't, they just do what they're told. The machine doesn't think, the machine can't feel pain. The machine has no emotions.

The T-800 was eventually crushed in a press, though Kyle had been killed by the machine. It had been a hollow victory for Sarah.

The second assassination attempt was on John himself. The most advanced model of terminator, from the distant future, was composed of a poly-alloy surrounding trillions of cell-sized nano-machines. It was capable of mimicking any human perfectly, down to the last cell.

This time, the resistance sent back a T-800. The T-1000 met its demise from an RPG used by the T-800. When the T-1000 was finally destroyed, the T-800 chose to be lowered into the molten steel.

The middle ground between a combat chassis and liquid metal was the T-X. Though never sent back, the T-X was, in some ways, more capable than the T-1000. They had projectile weapons built in. They could imitate any voice they heard and take the form of anyone they saw. They were liquid metal skin on an endoskeletal chassis.

In some ways, the T-X23 was a better infiltrator, though it lacked in some aspects. It had only a thin liquid metal skin; therefore it was stuck in one form. But it was better at mimicking human emotions than any other model.

The T-X23s were a fusion of T-X and T-800. It had a skull like the T-800 series. The body was like a bulked up T-X with the hands of a T-800. Fluidity of movements was achieved by replacing bulky outer servos with compact inner servos. Twice as powerful and half the size, they were far more efficient.

The T-X23 chose a tall black man as a victim. An ex-cop, Harvey Murphy had a good build and was the best figure for the needs it had. It had been dragging him for several hours now; the dust from the side road had him covered in a thick chalky substance.

The terminator dragged him down, behind a large mound of earth, and proceeded to kill him, stabbing him in the chest with the sharp claws.

Moments later, 'Harvey' step out from the mound. He was tall, about seven feet. He had a short Afro and a stud in each ear. He looked around, waiting for a suitable vehicle to come by.

He stuck out his thumb in typical hitchhiking fashion; the terminator had been pre-programmed with the necessary information of human behavior.

A U-Haul truck pulled up to him, "hey, buddy," the fat man with a long beard and black hair in plaid asked, "how far you goin'?"

Harvey tore open the door and stepped in. "All the way," he grabbed the driver and stabbed his chest. He through the dead man out of the seat and drove off in pursuit of the Connors and the rouge terminator.

John and Jack arrived at the pawnshop _David's electronics_. Jack parked the Expedition in the back lot behind the store.

When the two walked in, a buzzer rang. They walked up to the front desk. "Hello, anyone here?" John asked. "Hello?"

"You're too polite. Hey! Yo! If you're here, come up! If not we're gonna rob the place!"

"Are you crazy?" John said harshly.

A short bald man came out of an office behind the desk. "Hey! Me and my friend came for assistance! Now give it to us!" The man ignored him. "Hey!"

John looked at the desk, "it says 'ring bell for assistance'." John taped the bell and the man came over to them quickly.

"Yes?" he said. He was roughly 40 and had coke bottle glasses.

"yeah, how much are you asking for this?" Jack asked.

"What is it?" he said, not looking up from his _Today's Tech_ catalogue.

"It's a decoder," Jack said.

"A what?"

"One of those hacking devices." John cut in.

"Oh, yeah, 25 big ones."

"What?"

"You heard me!"

"Hell no, I wont pay a twenty-five grand for that!"

"Fifteen!"

"I'll give you one-hundred! Not a cent more!"

"A hundred grand?" the man said incredulous.

"No! Idiot! A hundred dollars!"

"One fifty, no less." He said.

"One twenty five!" John replied.

"One forty!" he stood strong.

"One thirty five!" Jack shouted.

"One thirty and you shut the hell up and leave!"

"Deal!" John and Jack said at once.

The man behind the desk handed them a small white box. The two walked out, the buzzer going off again, and left to the truck. "First time I ever ripped off an ATM."

John turned the truck on. As he backed out of the back lot, he saw a tall black man staring at them through the rear view mirror. He was muscular, had a short Afro, and had diamond studs in his ears.

John paid no attention to the man. He backed out, followed a wooden fence to the four-way intersection, and took a left. The U.S. Bank was down the block. The black man entered his U-Haul, which lacked a passenger door, and followed John and Jack at highway speed.

Derek walked out of the house to the women. He handed the keys to the brunette realtor and pulled Sarah to the side. "It's still there," he said.

"So, what do you like to do?" the realtor asked Cameron.

"I dance. My brother plays chess," she replied simply.

"Well, that's great, because the basement is huge. And, there's some wiring down there, makes one _mean_ strobe light."

Sarah realized what _it_ was.

John pulled up to the ATM and stepped out. He took one decoding device, plugged the USB end into the USB port on his laptop. He took the end with the magnetic strip and inserted it into the card reader of the ATM.

"Stand watch, make sure no one looks to suspecting, alright?"

"Yes, sir!" he said, mocking a stance of attention. He stood in front of John, making sure no one was looking at him.

"Wow, you know what you're doin', eh?"

"I've done it once or twice." John typed in four numbers on the computer. The ATM screen flashed, binary flew across it. The computer accepted the code.

The LCD read 'do you wish to make a withdraw?'

John tapped 'yes' and hit 'continue'.

'How much do you wish to withdraw?'

"We'll need a lot, two hundred thou should be good, right?" Jack asked.

"I was thinking more like four, five, six hundred thousand."

"I like your idea, I like that a lot more than mine."

John hit four, then five zeros and 'enter'. The ATM began to spit out green paper with the face of Benjamin Franklin on them. Four thousand bills later, John and Jack piled the money into the truck and pulled away, the computer and device left behind.

The U-Haul pulled out of the alley. The man stepped out and turned on the computer typed in four numbers, and commenced to withdraw five hundred thousand dollars.

"Hey! What do you think you're doin'?" a teller yelled from the bank entrance.

"Making a withdraw," he said.

"Then drop the computer and get in here!" he yelled.

"No."

"What?"

"No."

"Get over here!"

The man walked over to him. He pulled out a black handgun. "Terminated." He said as he pulled the trigger. There was a quiet _phwp_ as it fried and the bullet went through the teller's neck. He took the teller to behind the pillar and dropped him.

The man walked over to the machine, picking up his five thousand dollars, now strewn across the sidewalk. He got back into his U-Haul and drove off. He planted a tracking device on John and Jack's Expedition and was following them to their new house.

Cameron looked at the speeding black Expedition heading towards her.

"Alright, ma'am. We need to wrap this up, are you going to buy this place or not? I have a meeting at three."

John jumped out of the truck and ran over to Sarah. "Here you go, two hundred gees," he said, handing the realtor the money.

"Thanks the place is fully furnished and-"

"Look, we already bought the place, stop trying to sell it to us." John told her off.

She walked off in a huff over his comment. She got to the sidewalk and saw the black man walking in the opposite direction.

"I would like to buy this house," he said.

"It's not for sale."

"Oh," he pulled out his gun and fired.

He began to walk to the house. He opened the door and walked in.

"Hey, what the-?" the muscular man who lived there was shot in the chest. His family screamed as he gunned them down in front of the television.

He sat down at the couch in front of the TV and watched after he closed the door.

"Cameron! Cam!" Jack shouted as and John divided time between looking at real-time satellite images of their neighborhood and looking through binoculars.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Look through these." He handed her the binoculars.

She looked in at the house next door. She could barely see through the trees.

"What do see?"

"I see a man in front of the television. And three, make that four, casualties on the floor," her soft voice was intriguing. Her tone was unchanging. It sent a shiver down his spine.

"Our neighbor's a murderer?" Jack whispered to her.

"No, a terminator,"

Jack chuckled. "Even so, why would a terminator move in next door when its first priority is to kill John? Is it-uh-is it gonna come over here, ask for some sugar, the-ha-then kill him?"

"It is possible." Cameron said.

"Look, unless it's the most advanced model of terminator yet, it isn't a terminator! It doesn't make sense. It has him in its sights. Why not kill him now?"

"Perhaps it is waiting until Sarah leaves, perhaps-"

"Stop giving it ideas!" Jack hissed. The man in the house looked out his window up at them, through his own binoculars. "Damn!" Jack said quickly as he ducked. "Cam, is he still looking? Are you getting anything?"

"He is still looking this direction. Locating, most likely."

"John, John take over for me here. I'm going to check something out on the computer."

"Why?"

"Just get over here!"

John got off the computer and grabbed Jack's binoculars. "Wow," he whispered. "Oh my god!"

"What? Whadya see?"

"The man's a collector. He's got a '67 Mustang GT."

"Hey, that's not cool man! Don't joke with me like that!"

"No, no I'm serious. Look." John handed Jack the binoculars.

"Nice, green, just like Eleanor," John gave him a confused look. "Oh, oh, don't tell me you never saw Gone in Sixty Seconds!"

"I've seen it. I just don't remember it that well."

"it's where I learned most of my modern behavior. Up until I enrolled in school I thought everyone was that obsessed with cars. Hard habit to break!"

"Gone in Sixty Seconds: made in 1974, starring H.B. Halicki. Remade in 2000 starring Nicholas Cage."

"No, she hasn't seen it, she has a computer for a brain," Sarah came in. Jack knew better than to argue this with Sarah without irrefutable proof, or exposing Cameron. "Are you spying on the neighbors?"

"No," Cameron said without emotion.

"Then what's with the binoculars?"

"We, uh, we're peeping in on our girl next door," Jack said, knowing Sarah would pass it off as a joke.

"Dinner's at five." She said, walking downstairs.

"Alright," John said as Jack got onto Google.

"John, go get ready for dinner. Me and Cam'll be down in a minute."

"Alright."

"Searching; muscular black male, seven feet tall. Missing persons files."

Several thousand hits popped up. But one caught Jack's eye. "Harvey Murphy. Missing since the twenty-fourth. Hey, Cam, isn't that the day-?"

"'When the T-X23 attacked us?' yes."

"Coincidence? Cam, describe the man in the room to me please."

"Tall, African American, diamond earrings in both ears, high cheekbones, large ears, short afro, very dark skin tone."

The image of Harvey appeared on screen. The description and the image were exactly the same. Down to the scar below his right eye.


	9. Chapter 9

Cameron stood at the window that the three had been at just hours before. For the night, they shared the room. John had the bed. Jack had the other bed. Cam had the standing position, but she was getting 'tired'. She walked over to the nearest bed, Jack's, and sat down.

Jack slowly sat up in bed at the disturbance. "What…are you…doing?" he paused as he swallowed.

"Sleeping."

"Don't you have your own bed, your own room?" _what the hell is wrong with you, Jack? You are straight, right?_

"Yes. I prefer this room."

"Why?"

"I enjoy your company."

"Fine, just stay on your side." _What is wrong with you!_

Cameron pulled back the covers and slipped into the bed. The instant she pulled the covers over herself again, she was asleep.

He looked over at her. He loved all of her features: her angelic face, her smooth skin, her big brown eyes, her pouty lips, her-

-_Stop it! She's a machine! No matter her past!_

-Her swelling chest, her long brown hair, her-

He turned away from her. _God, why do you torture me?_

Her sleeping face haunted his mind as he slept. Her beauty, her-

-_Shut up!_ He waited a few minutes. No sound. No thought. The silence was absolute.

_You know you love her. _He nagged himself._ You're a cruel sadistic bastard._ He looked back at her._ Just a kiss. That's all. Just one and you'll be out of my mind._

He was about to kiss her when the alarm went off. Bob Marley's _three little birds_ played as John whipped the sleep from his eyes. He couldn't believe that time passed so quickly.

Don't worry about a thing

Cuz every little thing is gonna be alright

Singin' don't worry about a thing

Cuz every little thing is gonna be alright

The six o'clock sun peaked out of the trees.

Rise up this morning'

Smiled at the risin' sun

Three little birds

Perched on my doorstep

Cameron's eyes snapped open and Jack threw himself against his pillow.

Singin sweet songs

Of melodies pure and true

_Jackass._ He thought.

Sayin' this is my message to you-ou-ou

"Great pancakes, Sarah," Jack said about breakfast.

"It's Mrs. Connor to you, and thanks." She was standing up, eating her pancakes.

Jack stood up and put his plate in the sink. "I'll be back soon."

"Where are you going?" John asked.

"We're in the money. I'm going to buy whatever I want at the wall-mart," he said, grabbing his keys.

The Eastern licks from an electric guitar played through the small radio. The Rolling Stone's _paint it black_ played as Jack, John, and Cameron painted the room. Three pans, once filled with black, held three rollers.

I see a red door and I want it painted black

No colors anymore I want them to turn black

I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes

The room was a black background with the logo of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon album on the wall opposite the beds.

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black

With flowers and my love both never to come back

Journey's Captured album was on the right wall.

I see people turn their heads and quickly look away

Like a newborn baby it just happens every day

I look inside myself and see my heart is black

I see my red door and it has been painted black

Green Day's American Idiot was on the left wall.

Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts

It's not easy facing up when your whole world's black

The Fresh Price of Bel-Air logo was on the wall behind the beds.

No more will my green sea turn a deeper blue

I could not foresee this thing happening to you

If I look hard enough into the settin' sun

My love will laugh with me before the morning comes

"Good, job. Looks freakin' awesome!" Jack shouted. "finishing touches," he walked over to the door and closed it. He took a spray can of black and silver.

I see a red door and I want it painted black

No more colors I want them turned to black

I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes

I have to turn my head until the darkness goes

He began to hum along with Mick Jagger as he sprayed the door black.

I wanna see it painted, painted black

Black as night, black as coal

With the silver he sprayed a lightning bolt.

I wanna see the sun bloated out from the sky

He sprayed an A…

I wanna see it painted

He sprayed a C

Painted

He sprayed a D

Painted

He finally sprayed a D

Painted black

"Yeah!" he shouted out with Mick.

A gloss coating making the walls shine as the sun hit them.

"This wall owns all," Jack said.

"I didn't know they had music in the future."

"There's a lot you don't know. Some of which you don't need or want to know. But music and survival, that's what kept us going."

"Alright, John! Cameron! Jack! Come down here! I have a job for you!"

"What's she talking about?"

"Defense grid."

Jack had been sitting in his corner by the window for the past three hours, and it began to dawn on him his target wouldn't leave. He saw the machine in the house next-door stand up from his chair. _Finally!_ He thought.

He grabbed his carbine, perched on the desk next to the door, as he hustled down the stairs to the front door. He threw open the door and pulled the binoculars from around his neck. Through them he saw Harvey driving off. He made note of the license plate._ XDK-387._ _Kansas plates._ He tore out his brick sized walkie-talkie and pushed the talk button, "John…yeah…John, he's going. Driving away."

The walkie had thirty seconds of static before John responded, "-is house-" static "-ecure?"

"John, I do not copy. Come again?" a minute passed. "John, do you read me?" Static. "Do you read me, over?" he got off his knees and walked over to Harvey's house. "John? John! John!"

"-Ouse, is-t, secure?"

"Yes, the house is secure, for now." He was right behind John now; he tapped him on the shoulder. "You got the stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Cam, go in and place these in all major viewpoints," he handed her plastique explosives, "and rig them for a synchronized explosion."

She took the devices from him. "Yes," she said simply, and walked off.

Jack and John both caught themselves as they followed her with their eyes. Jack looked away and whistled as John did the same and coughed.

Cameron crouched down and placed the bag of explosives under the bay window. She took the lead wire of the first and hooked it into the second. She did the same to the second and third, the third and fourth, until all twenty explosives were set up. She left the last lead open as a receiver. She took out a black box and plugged the receiving wire into the box; she turned it on and set it for signaled explosion.

"The primer is set, ready for explosion."

"Alright!" Jack said, amused.

"We should continue to add to security. Strengthen the doors, add explosives-."

The sound of a car pulling up startled Jack and John. It was Harvey. "Don't get out, go, don't turn…please don't turn," Jack repeated his mantra until Harvey was in his driveway. He stepped out. He was dressed in black leather. His eyes cloaked by black sunglasses. Heavy boots clunked on the ground as he walked.

He walked up to his house, no; an innocent family's house, and opened the unlocked door. The two held their breath; Cameron showed no sign of concern. Five minutes later he walked out, a sawed-off DPMS panther carbine just like Jack's was concealed under his oversized jacket.

He got back into the 1967 GT, backed out, and drove off. "Damn that was close," Jack said.

"Probability of John's termination in this area was minimal. The T-X23s are 'low-profile'. They operate in secret."

Jack pulled out his own carbine. "What are you going to do?" John asked. He already knew the answer.

A few nights ago, Cameron told him about Jack. He would become a resistance fighter. Ever loyal, though extremely gun-ho. Shoot first, shoot second, shoot third, and when-everybody's-dead-try-to-fit-in-a-question-or-two kind of guy. Someone he was sent back to 'convince' to join the resistance would develop a virus that might be able to take SKYNET down.

"What ever I gotta do."

"You're not going anywhere!"

"Sorry, Johnny. I'm going to kill this machine, just like I did Cromartie."

"You will not leave the premises."

Jack wanted to fight the machine; he had such a rush from the Cromartie fight. He wanted to disobey Cameron. He knew he should be subordinate to John and her, however. He unslinged his riffle and dropped it.

"Alright, I'll stay."

He bent over, "but if the T-X23 tries to kill you, I have first shot."

John was in the kitchen with his mother; Jack was in the living room with Cameron watching TV. In the kitchen, the eastern sounds of Led Zeppelin's _Kashmir_ played.

On TV was an episode of Spin City. The perverted Stuart Bondek, who was played by Alan Ruck, was talking to Mike Flaherty, Played by Michael J. Fox, about how to go about firing James Hobert, played by Alexander Chaplin, when Caitlin Moore, Heather Locklear, suggested firing him from speechwriting duty.

"How about a knock-knock joke?" he suggested

"What?" Mike replied.

"Like 'hey, James?' 'Yeah Mike?' 'Knock-knock.' 'Who's there?' 'You're fired!'"

"Stuart?"

"Yeah Mike?"

"You are going to be the life…of hell."

Jack looked around as FX cut to a commercial. "Hey, Misses C. how's dinner coming?"

"It's coming, that's about all I can say," she said joking.

Jack looked at Cameron. He looked at her long and hard. He thought about he uniqueness, what made Cameron, Cameron?

In the words of Ian Malcolm, 'what makes you think human beings are sentient and aware? There's no evidence for it. Humans never think for themselves, they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, our species simply repeats what we're told, and get upset if they are exposed to any other view. The human trait is not awareness but conformity; we are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion'.

Sarah and John had left the kitchen. The house would be silent, if not for the laughing on the Spin City. He looked over to Cameron; her eyes had not left the screen since the program started. She didn't even blink.

Suddenly Cameron blurted out, "What is it like?"

"What like?"

"To kiss? What is it like to kiss?"

He looked at her eyes. So innocent looking, so human. "Well, it's like, uh…it's like…an adrenaline rush. It's like a combination of an adrenaline rush, endorphins flowing." _Come on. _This_ is the opportunity you've been looking for!_

"I am capable of feeling. My neural network mimics the human's perfectly. Stimuli within my brain allow me to discharge chemicals into receptors in my positronic brain and-"

Jack leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Cameron's lips were like velvet to his. The kiss lasted ten seconds until Jack pulled back slowly. Cameron did the same; she didn't open her eyes until she was sitting upright.

"Wow, I can just hear it now: Journey's don't stop believing? No, Lionel Ritchie's hello? Nah. I would sing jungle fever but…"

"John," Jack said, visibly embarrassed having been caught.

"Jack, a word?"

"No, Jack's a name…I'm pretty sure,"

"Get over here!"

With this Jack shot up and went completely subordinate, he had heard John like this before. "John, I'm sorry, man. It was just-"

"Just what?"

"Boys, soup's on!" Sarah yelled.

"We'll talk later," John said as he patted Jack on the shoulder.

Washington DC;

"Mr. President? We have a document for you to look over," a tall man in a suit sad the man in the leather chair facing the bay window. He had dark skin and a deep voice.

"Yes, Mr. Bates? What's this about, I'm watchin' those people out there."

"It's of security purposes. We all know about the A.R.T.I.E project, how it will uplink to databases all over the world, we hope to hook this up to our new AI."

"You said it was of security. Where is the security? So far all I hear is road control policy, more work for me."

"I'm getting there, sir. Now, with this technology, we hope to create a new defensive weapon. We know the war is escalating. How long can all of our enemies go on before bombing us? This proposition supports hooking the WOPR war computer up to our AI, SKYNET."

"So, give the AI one of the most powerful arsenals in the world and trust it with our lives? Haven't you ever seen I, Robot? Read Goliath? I'll bet you've never even seen WarGames!" he shouted.

"So, you are declining the project?"

"Oh, no, that's all sci-fi crap. I'm all for it!"

"Good, just look through this proposal in your spare time," the man said as he dropped a manila folder onto the president's desk. Rubber-stamped in red on the cover was _Project 666_.

The man walked out. His mission had been done. As he climbed into his black GMC, his eyes flashed red.

As he drove, the Department of Defense Secretary Jacob Lambert Bates lay dying in a huddled bleeding mass.

It was late in Topeka, about 11:39 PM. John was asleep, Jack was trying to sleep, Cameron's eyes were sealed shut. Jack rolled over and Cameron shot up suddenly. "Holy jeez!" Jack shouted in surprise.

"Update: SKYNET is now set."

"What? I thought it already was."

"The components to it were. The hive mind, the weapon control, the war strategist, and the main computer were. Now the central AI is inevitable."

"But, I thought that the duroquinone-"

"The duroquinone is half of the brain. It translates biotic signals to computer code."

"Biotic?"

"Yes. It is known that bacteria are far more useful that any other form of information storage. The DNA matrix allows vast amounts to be stored while keeping the space compact."

"So, SKYNET is a bacteria, translated through duroquinone, connected to a war computer, a chess computer and a control program computer?"

"Yes." She leaned over to him.

"Cam, what are you doing?" Jack asked, worried.

"I like kissing you," she said as she leaned in further.

"Cameron, what if John sees? I mean, he is your-"

-With that, she pressed her lips against his. The kiss lasted for twenty seconds. Cameron lay back down and left Jack stunned. There was something that didn't make sense to him.

When she had kissed him, she parted his lips with hers. _Am I ever gonna get to sleep?_

It had been two hours and Jack was finally asleep. He was having a dream of his last day in 2025:

"Cameron! Cam, over here!" John yelled. He was old, rugged, muscular, and had a long beard. A stolen plasma rifle was strapped across his shoulder. Cameron stepped out of the narrow hall of the base into the open room. The lights were out, another raid was going on.

"Yes?"

"Power up the time machine, use the auxiliary power. Jack, get down here!"

A blast shook the concrete and steel building; the lights flickered on and off. A fourteen-year-old Jack came stumbling down the stairs, grasping in the dark for a handhold. The red lights turned on as the backup generator kicked on. In his hand was a sack of pink flesh.

"You got the repair kit?"

He raised the bag, "right here. Why do I need the kit, anyway?"

"You never know what may happen, you might fail and I'll send a reprogrammed terminator to save your ass."

Cameron leaned into the retinal scanner, it recognized her and the six inch thick titanium sliding door hissed open, sub zero air floated out.

The inside of the newly revealed room was incredibly tight and cold and a bright light illuminated the darkness. He shook hands with John, kissed Cameron, and stepped into the quarters. She closed the door behind him and set the time to April 8, 2006 12:32 AM.

Jack breathed heavy in the cryostasis-like chamber, his lips were turning blue and his breath was visible. Claustrophobia was beginning to set in. "beam me up, Scotty," he whispered to himself.

Cameron paused a moment, wishing she didn't have to send him back, before hitting enter. There was a thundering sound, then a crash. Suddenly all was silent. Cameron leaned into John; he pulled her in and gently hugged her, patting her on the back.

The lights then turned off, the building shook again. "Cameron, go to the safe house," John said, handing her his rifle. She left, running down the hall, trying to spot the glowing red eyes.

There was a thunder in LA; the sound of gunshots was muffled. In an alley, the blue lightning spread out like veins from the sphere. In the ground, a crater was all the evidence that remained of the time traveler.

Jack stood up. He crawled out of the hole naked, the only thing he had was the sack with the advanced tools within. He walked out of the alley and into the street, where a honking semi almost ran him over until he dove out of the way.

Jack looked around. This world was alien. There was gunfire, but not gunfire upon machines. Man on man violence; one group fighting another group. He found it illogical.

He could only think of the lyrics to _Kashmir_. He thought they fit his predicament very well. _Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face. Stars to fill my dreams. I am a traveler of both time and space. Where I have been, to sit with elders of a gentle race, this world has seldom seen. They talk for days for which they wait, and all will be revealed._

He searched the area, and found a department store. He broke the window with several blows from his fists and walked in. Suddenly alarms went off. He ran in and grabbed all the clothes he could. He ran through the streets, armfuls of clothes falling as did so. He ran into an alley and dressed. He heard sirens. Had no idea of what they meant, but they couldn't be good.

Cameron was having a similar dream, of her last day:

She walked down the catwalk and saw John. She ran up to him. "Hey," she said.

"Hey! Cameron, how's things holding up since Jack left?"

"Pretty good. Thanks Derek." She said as she walked over to the end of the catwalk, near the doors. Suddenly, there was an explosion.

"Cam! Get down!" John shouted as the large doors flew in. There were three T-X23s, one crouched as it landed on the door, the other two came running in from the left and right. The left went for Derek, the right for John. The remaining T-X23 stood up and walked over to Cameron in an intimidating manner. She whimpered as the silver monster picked her up, but this T-X23 had a thicker liquid metal sheet, it mutated to the form of Cameron.

"John!" Derek screamed as he shot the head of his machine with his M18-A2 LAPPPG. "Get Cameron!"

Derek shot the machine on John. He shot up and pulled his gun, but it was to late. The machine had taken another victim.

Cameron screamed as the machine stabbed her. "No! No! No!" John shouted as he ran up to the horrifying machine. Tears welled in his eyes as he grabbed the T-X23s arm, swinging it around and around. He tossed the machine, it flipped and began to stand up, running over to John. John ran over to it, turning his shoulder to it. He pulled out an EMP grenade from his pocket and readied it.

The machine and man made contact; John shoved the grenade into its chest. "Diiiie!" he shouted as he kicked off the metallic monster. He landed and ran over to Cameron, Derek was kneeling beside her.

The machine rushed them until blue beams of lightning expelled from each and every orifice. It dropped to the ground, most of its data erased.

Blood was coming forth from her wound in her abdomen and her mouth. John looked down at her, sorrow in her eyes. "Cameron, I love you," he softly said to her as he stroked her hair.

She tried to pull herself up to him, she could only muster out a weak mouthing of: "I love you, too…dad." John began to cry as he felt her life leave her.

"No, no. Pease god, no. Don't let her die. Don't let her die!" Derek stood over him as he began to sob. He patted John on the back, "Let it out man. I understand what you're going through."

They heard the roar of a 'pack' of T-X23s running toward the door. John nodded to Derek, who left with his M18-A2 LAPPPG drawn. John picked her up and walked toward the door.

He heard Derek's screaming in the hall. He walked slowly, drew his M18-A2 LAPPPG. He joined Derek and opened fire. Instead of gently pulling the trigger, he pulled hard; the beam shot out and exploded. Ten of the terminators were destroyed.

"John, go I'll hold them off!"

John nodded and ran deeper into the hall, leading deeper into the complex. The next few days were a blur to her, though she did know that John had his top scientists working on her. The T-X23s had positronic bacteria-filled brains, all of them. John used this to help him. The scientists used a once failed method to download Cameron's memories into the positronic bacteria brain. A female part in the positronic brain allowed the male end to be plugged in. Thousands of 'nerves' on the opposite end plugged into the human brain, this allowed for an exchange in information. The scientists put Cameron's memories, her thought patterns, everything about her.

The next thing she knew, she was lying in a hospital bed in the bunker. "Morning, Cameron." One of the doctors said. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept well, thank you."

The alarm went off. Mute Math's _Thy Typical_ played as John woke up, walking to the bathroom. Cameron woke up, deciding to let Jack sleep in. Her last days in the future were things John could never know about. She walked downstairs. She turned her head, looked over at Jack, stood for a moment, and continued to walk downstairs.


End file.
